Midsommar's "Happy" Ending, Explained
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- Get a full month of MUBI FOR FREE: mubi.com/thetake (With the support of Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union) | Ari Aster’s Midsommar ends with a smile creeping across the face of its protagonist, Dani (Florence Pugh). The grisly finale feels like a moment of triumph for this character, who’s spent the whole film enduring emotional torment. Watching the suffering of others who’ve wronged her provides her the satisfaction of retribution and lets us participate in a revenge fantasy that might feel especially liberating to anyone who’s suffered a very bad break-up. But if we do smile along with Dani, what does that say about us? Here’s our take on how Midsommar tells a different kind of horror story-one that’s less about things lurking in the darkness, than the truths lurking inside us-and why its terrifying ending is the key to this twisted fairy tale. If you like this video, subscribe to our channel or support us on Patreon: / thetake
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I feel like they don’t mention the fact that everyone gaslights her into staying the whole movie which also helps with the lack of empathy for them
She shouldn't have tagged along in the first place--I thought Ari Aster did a great job of showing how toxic and co-dependent their relationship was (or at least had become by the time we meet them). Girl should've stayed home, worked with her therapist and gotten caught up on her thesis.
@@evelynlamb1455 yeah. Blame her for her trauma. Everyone knows that therapy is all you need to fix that!
@@crob80231what if the illness happens after years of being together?
And I don't think anyone who had some emotional issues would even be drawn to you. What a onesided look you have on things.l
Christopher R if you actually watched the movie this is Dani’s liberation from Christian... he was the problem. She’s not neurotic her sister brutally murdered herself and their parents😂😂😂 I think that takes a minute to recover from.
@@crob80231 cold take my dude
Wait y’all saw that as a happy ending? I saw it as her mind finally breaking
It is and it isn't. That's what made the movie so interesting to me. On the one hand, she's in this very unsettling community far away from home and is drugged and traumatized. On the other hand, she has found the connection that she wanted so desperately and couldn't get from the people she had been around before.
Even at the beginning, she doesn't really have a "home" to go back to. Her family is dead, her boyfriend is emotionally abusive and doesn't want to be in a relationship but is too much of a coward to break up with her. She seems to not have any support system, she hangs out with her Christian's friend group, but doesn't have one of her own. She's alone and already dealing with serious trauma before they set out on the trip.
That's the scariest part to me; her life was so awful that the cult became a preferable situation, because at least then, she has people who support her emotionally and treat her with some form of care and respect, no matter how twisted it is. She has a community now, people who listen to her thoughts and feelings, and empathize with her. It left me wondering if she was really worse off here than she would have been had she stayed behind and continued with her life as it was back "home".
@@LaydiNite They are not treating her with care and respect, it's all one big manipulation.
Saamme. It’s so disturbing and I’m worried for her to be stuck with them.
@@DrGregoryHouseIT Maybe so, but she was being manipulated by her boyfriend and his friends as well. Even if the cult is only empathizing with her out of a desire to keep her there, that's still more than she had before.
That's my point: Her life was so messed up before the trip that it makes you question if she's really any worse off in the cult, even knowing how awful they can be. In some ways it comes back down to the question if a comforting lie is preferable to a bleak truth.
Is it better to be alone and unwanted, or be among people who reach out to you and want you there, even if it's for their own twisted reasons? She might actually be happier in the cult in a way, and that's what makes it so creepy and upsetting.
@@DrGregoryHouseIT exactly! And that is probably one of the scary things! Maybe they would care for her in their weird way cause she tried to be part of them (?) Like...she participated and spend time with the other people in the community. We as audience saw all the twisted ways but to her she only saw people who were nice and a new family. Its like abuse relationships when sometimes people who are in them cant see the same red flags that an outsider can
The film is also a brilliant representation of how cults recruit
Exactly. And all the people cheering for it are all the people that could have gotten into the cult the same way Dani did.
People that get their emotions manipulated easily.
Hahaha by the end of the movie I was thinking of how easily I could end up joining a cult
Yep. Although I understand Dani’s catharsis…you gotta remember that the harga manipulated the whole situation. They knew that Christian was her NT and encouraged that sex act with the redhead and lead Dani to witness. They wanted Dani to be last girl standing cause of the entire group that was brought in…she was the most vulnerable therefore easiest to lure. Also she was already lonely because of her family situation.
Yeah...with how much I relate to Dani and how intensely that I feel my emotions..i was horrified by this movie but also found myself smiling with Dani at the end. I literally became her while watching this movie and it scared me so much that I could be so easily manipulated and how easily I could succumb to insanity. I love this movie lol
In the sleeping area the babies keep crying all night long. Dani and everyone who came go on psychedelic trip after psychedelic trip and get no proper rest (also because of the midnight sun). And the behaviour of the Hargas changes over time, becoming adamant about not taking pictures, falsely accusing people of taking their scripture and instead of asking Dani to help the other women, they start to tell her to.
I will NOT let the “grisly finale” pun go underappreciated
Hahaha😂
I'm not fluent in English: can anyone explain the pun here, please? Thanks
I bearly missed it... :))
OMG
This comment thread is honestly becoming unbearable.
Midsommar: the world's most f**ked up breakup story.
Understatement of the century! Consider it a cautionary tale to NEVER mess with a scorned woman, or she WILL make you pay! 😉
@@trinaq no its not, it's society(fittingly portrayed as a cult) that makes you pay;
a woman can't do shit to you if you're a man
sebmeister67 But the women do have a power that men don’t have - it’s called the divorce court.
@@thomasfholland as i said, modern society which sadly acts as a cult, makes you pay
The culture is at fault
The End Of A Toxic Relationship
This movie had the same effect as Gone Girl. Whenever I watch it with friends, all the women are like "Yeah... I get why she did this. Good for her," while all the guys are sitting there like ☹
Definitely wasn’t for ‘no reason’ and while killing him was wrong I wouldn’t say she was the bad guy in the situation but ok. Guess this just proves op’s point 🤷🏼♀️
I love how someone immediately comments “but she was in the wrong and is extremely unlikeable!” Well, let me ask this, WHY is she unlikeable to you? Because I honestly loved her.
@Ian Jones As a woman I actually agree with you. Dani doesn't have an actual personality, she's just entirely defined by the things that she's been through/ things that happen around her. Pretty much everyone in the movie is unlikable and the deaths, for me at least, felt unjustified.
@@WolfzieDraws that's pretty much the point, Dani has undergone excepcional trauma so the viewer's point of affinity with her is just pain. She's not allowed to shine because she's never in a comfort zone, so your level of empathy depends on your own sense of kindness reagarding death, family and love. To me she's the type of character whose personality is built by silence; in her passivity you find her inner turmoils 😉
Weird, it was made to be relatable to anyone breaking up with a partner
Okay I usually don’t comment, but I feel like everyone is interpreting Midsommar in a very black and white way which does such a disservice to the movie. Like a lot of women, I felt that catharsis too at the end with Dani smiling. It was really easy to sympathize with her. Some are pointing out that what happened to Christian (and everyone else) wasn’t okay. Two things can be true at once. This movie is about toxic relationships yes, but more than anything, I think it’s about the human desire to belong and how unprocessed trauma and abandonment can make you try to achieve that at all costs. I mean, the beginning of the movie is probably one of the most traumatizing things that can happen to anyone ever.
I’m pretty positive the director intentionally made Dani sympathetic and Christian (and the rest to some degree) unlikeable. To put the audience in her place and basically be taken along for the ride no questions asked. Enough to maybe even end up cheering for his death. Again, pretty sure that’s by design. The point isn’t who’s the “good guy” or the “bad guy”. You know, it’s about a commune that becomes worse and worse throughout the movie until you realize, yep, that’s a cult. And you can understand why Dani is indoctrinated despite every horrible thing the cult has done. With her gaslighting shitty boyfriend and no support system, even though what happened to them in the end was by all accounts wrong, Dani finds sympathy and belonging with the cult. Well, what feels like sympathy and belonging. Whatever seems to fill the void of her lost family.
The whole movie is basically a mindfuck and is supposed to question what you’re feeling. Its horrible but somehow kind of freeing? It’s like the metaphorical feeling of having your trauma taken advantage of and being lured into a cult, and then your feelings manifesting into a really dark revenge fantasy. Its a really unique horror, but I think what makes it a horror at all is that very human fear. How susceptible people can be to evil communities when their trauma is untreated and exploited.
But hey that’s just my take lol.
Actually I think it goes even a bit deeper than that. It makes you question your own moral compass, especially if you felt anything good or satisfying about Dani's smile at the end. We all like to think we're the hero in our own stories, but with a minor shift in perspective, we might just as easily be the villain. Same as the society we live in. Is it the truly the best way to live? Would elderly people prefer to take their own lives (and deaths) into their own hands among loved ones, or die helpless and alone in an old folks' home? Is it best to encourage self-reliance and independence, or community and self-sacrifice? Is murder worse than greed? How much misery and death are each of us responsible for, either directly or indirectly? Like it or not, in some way we all have blood on our hands.
yesss couldnt have said it better myself. brilliant take on this film 💗
Brilliant point of view
Just agree just agree..
Sorry..
But yeah I agree, what a rich vocabulary there to describe your take about this movie. I'm like having a delegation or smth haha
@@Cyssane and I agree with you too haha
Pelle wasn’t even a friend of Dani’s, yet he’s the only one willing to listen to her. I think he purposely looked for a group of people for the sacrifices (finding Christian and the rest) and saw that Dani needed the trip too.
She was the most vulnerable
There was nothing romantic or selfless about the way Pelle behaved with Dani. To me, it's clear he manipulated and preyed upon her weakness. She was depressed and vulnerable, but in different conditions, she wouldn't have given him attention and she would've thought of him as another guy trying to get in her pants. Obviously we don't have backstory about how the guys came to befriend him, but it's clear he always had an ulterior motive. He was out of town to meet new people and bring them in to his cult. Nothing suggests that Dani won't be sacrificed at some point.
He was a creep and so is everyone in this cult, in this movie I only liked Dani. I didn't want the people to die, even if they are terrible .
He isn't listening to her, he targeted her for assimilation.
I’m thinking that he wanted to use her as someone to just procreate with. A foreigner that could lengthen the tree. Like how his brother wanted to do with the girl he brought himself, but couldn’t because she was too attached to her boyfriend. But I don’t believe there was any actual romantic feelings there. Just like between Christian and the red head girl, he was just used for his sperm. And Dani will just be used to carry a baby.
Such a good ending, not in the moral sense but because it makes you double take yourself and say wait, am I really feeling okay with this?
Yup! It's like reading Lolita
Yes! That exactly captures how I feel about it!
Exactly, people were murdered
You felt that way because the casting was terrible and you didn't care about the characters.
You guys are sick ❤️
The bright visuals of this movie are why I like it.
Even in a sunny bright setting, you can make it creepy.
Yeah it’s easy to rely on darkness to amp up the suspense. I respect that they took on this challenge of intense sunniness and it was still terrifying.
I agree, you have to applaud the cinematography for managing to convey a creepy, unsettling atmosphere by using bright images the entire way through. 🔆😊
folk horror & daytime horror are an entire sub genre! check out "a field in england," & "blood on satan's claw."!
When I go watch a movie which I suspect may display some violence, sunny and bright scenes or any source of light are what scares me the most. I'm sensitive to blood, so if it's hidden in the darkness it is more subtle, usually.
It made me want to go back to Stockholm and lay down in the grass at Djurgarden in summertime ( my phone doesn't let me write it correctly). It somehow really does look superbright at times.
Moral of story: every person should leave someone if they really don't like them. Staying with someone out of "sympathy" leads to terrible things.
imo it wasnt even sympathy i think he just wanted someone to abuse
farah could u elaborate? would like to hear someone else's take. imo (I don't remember the characters names) the main girl keeps pushing for making something to happen when she should really work on herself. The main guy obviously doesn't want to be with her but he doesn't want to leave her cause he would feel bad, despite all she has been through. But in the end he gets molested and she kills him. Then she is happy that he is dead? That is just creepy of her and very psychotic.
Yup I was in a TOXIC relationship for 6 years, I still stayed for the last 2 out of pity for my ex but that BACKFIRED. DO NOT WAIT TO GET OUT.
meli thx for sharing meli. That must have sucked. Have a buddy who is currently in one and she is terrible to him. he stays cause of her past, but she abuses him everyday. it breaks my heart. he isn't the same anymore.
@@Whofuckencares808 Technically speaking, she didn't "kill" him. Either way, the 3 Dudes were marked for death when they entered the place- The Harga clearly have a zero tolerance policy for as*holes. The 3 literally brought their own fate upon themselves.
"A SMILE finally breaks onto Dani's face. She has surrendered to a joy known only by the insane. She has lost herself completely, and she is finally free. It is horrible and it is beautiful."
What insane is, depends on logic systems, which govern different cultures. Which cultures are influenced by the laws of physics in a university, which some universes have other systems of existence thus produce vastly different culture for which sometimes horrible and beautiful do not exist.
Movie "journalists" : "woah, what a happy ending for a feminist movie about a woman getting revenge on her gaslighting PoC boyfriend!"
@@anonymousmcanonymous3055 Exactly. Anyone who thinks this way sounds like they would be very, very prone to the cult manipulating them, too
i know this will sound like a huge stretch but it makes me afraid how easily people on social media, got so angry at christian to the point that they would view Dani joining a CULT as a happy ending, and Christian’s death justified. one of the messages i got from the movie is how vulnerable people fall into cults. i didnt find christian’s death cathartic. i wanted dani to stand up for herself rather than have other people handle christian for her. dani never confronted her reality, she escaped into an illusion, and i find this ending to be a sad one.
Yes!
One of the main elements is that cults prey on people who are emotionally weak. Pelle was a “friend” so he personally knew everything she was going through. That’s why he made himself the nice guy to lure her there. That’s how cults work.
I had a similar sad feeling at the end of this film not catharsis, though it felt like it was almost a test to see if the film could make you hate a character enough that you would be okay with a cult murdering him, in that way I really did enjoy the film as it asks you to explore your own inner morality, and group think.
It's a matter of your point of view, for dani it was a good ending emotionally, and people who were in cults sometimes claim it to be a great sense of unity, emotional support and a strong family - which is what dani wanted. But from a 3rd person pov it's obviously a horrible thing. I think the question is how much did u identify with dani.
I also think it is assumed she will be killed after she served her purpose as a May queen soo... But yeah: in video they are basically telling us, that if you are an "emotional and sensitive person" you are most likely to be lured in a cult/sect. While, you know: her parents was killed by her sister, who also killed herself. If there was Christian, if there was no Christian - it won't change anything, I believe. It's not like she is special in her emotionality - they just found her in a dreadful situation, where anyone will be unstable, anyone will be an easy prey in such a state
I was just happy that for once the creepy culture was white and not native-american
for some reason representing native white cultures as uncivilized and evil is much better than showing non-white native cultures uncivilized and evil.
As a scandinavian, I always wondered if I can feel offended by popculture worngly representing norse culture, or if I should not feel offended because all scandianvian cuntries today are now rich and privilaged people?
Even if only a small portion on Norse culture is still practiced today (like Jol/Jul/Yule), it's still a heritage that is not represented very well
Never seen any native american horror films.
@Emma Lynch The film version of The Shining has Native American elements as well, from the decor to the history of the Overlook being built on Native ground. The manager even states "The site is supposed to be located on an Indian burial ground and I believe they actually had to repel a few Indian attacks as they were building it."
Ever seen The Wilker Man?
@@historicusham native American elements are different from a native american culture driven movie. It's not the same. A horror movie exploring the culture of native american like midsummer exploring swedish culture is practically non existent. But again I'm unaware if it does exist, it could.
I think the movie isn’t about her finally getting over her oppressive boyfriend; it’s about the cult becoming her new oppressor. They act warm and welcoming, and present an image of love and perfection. But I’m reality, they’re just controlling and manipulating Dani the same way her boyfriend did. Dani thinks she’s in control, but she’s simply traded in one captor for another.
there is no cult. it's a metaphor for getting over toxic relationships. watch the video again
@@c5quared626getting over a toxic relationship by getting into another one.
@@c5quared626it’s literally a cult that drugs and kills people
While everyone is going to interpret media differently, I take issue with a couple of the points here. The most important is that Christian was drugged and sexually assaulted, just because he's a bad person or because he was attracted to the perpetrator doesn't change that. He didn't consent and the constant framing of it as "cheating" instead of rape is really distressing. Second, I understand why the ending would be cathartic to a lot of people, but I personally found it horrifying. Dani has left one abusive relationship for another more violent and difficult to escape abusive relationship. It's the worst case scenario for anyone who's ever suffered this sort of mental and emotional abuse.
Exactly.
Great take, I agree. She really did go from a bad situation to a worse one. And I agree that Christian didn't deserve that bc he was a dick. Nobody deserves to have anything like that happen to them.
She got indoctrinated by a cult of inbred, paganistic, murderous rapists. It's a disturbing ending for sure.
@Paul Gauthier If at any moment in a sexual encounter someone takes the ability to withdraw consent then the intercourse is non consensual. Consent isn't "I said okay once so I can't take it back anymore". He didn't consent to being drugged therefore it was not consensual because the parameters of the intercourse were changed without his prior approval.
@Paul Gauthier so? I thought about cheating on past relationships. Does that mean that if the person I though about cheating with drugged me and raped me, it would've been the same as simply me cheating? That's really fucked up.
did y’all know christian was screaming when he was lit on fire. its hard to hear over the fire/music but you can hear very hoarse screaming. its also rumoured that they cut off his legs to fit in the bear suit (bears have shorter legs). btw since bears have a lot of fat insulation, chances are christian died from being boiled/fried alive rather than burned.
Well, there goes my appetite.
Yeah because its really your kids' fault for you not financially supporting the children you chose to have. You need help. Seriously seek help you sound like a psych0.
Man, Your hate is not at all compared to what the movie wants you to feel, could you just start by trying to be less of a crappy person and actually helping the mother of your kids?? Thanks
...wow.
Where did you get this info from?! It’s super terrifying yet interesting
Can we talk about Florence Pugh though? She is so talented, adorable and beautiful and she deserves the world.
I read somewhere she was so happy to film Little Women after this.
@@nangke I can imagine 😆
She deserved an Oscar nom for this movie, not for the umpteenth remake of Little Women
Yes! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
those eyes and that voice, she's got a bright future
I mean I don't think Christian "passively allowed himself to be drugged and led to the act" so much as he was, you know, straight-up raped. I do agree his character overall represents the flaw of lazy passivity and wishy-washiness, and he's a grade-A jerk in a ton of ways, but what happened to him was definitely rape. Call it semantics, but I just felt that needed stating. Other than that I agree with the points in this video, and I really love Midsommar as a modern horror-fairytale.
i was looking for this comment, it made me really mad when they said that about Christian even though i hate him he doesn't deserve for it to be referred to like that
Same, that’s the only part of this video that made me wince because yeah he’s an asshole but he didn’t “allow himself” to do anything, a lot of it was coercion leading up to his SA. If he were a woman people would be quick to call it out and not write it off as a quirky or weird scene.
@@kiamckenz this kind of shit is why male victims don't want to speak up
That’s laughable. The dude was literally well aware of the cults plans for him and that butt ugly ginger. Pelle even told him that she had an eye on him and the elder woman from the cult met him alone and told him about the plan he went along with everything until it escalated. He was literally on top of her thrusting that was no rape.
@@abrose7887 he was drugged!!! What the hell is wrong with you??????
I got out of my toxic five year relationship a few days after I saw this. When Pele asked Dani if Christian felt like home to her I wept and knew I had to do something. I owe it to this film, I don’t know if I would have gotten out of the terrible relationship if I hadn’t seen this film. Great job Ari.
Dani is the one that kept Christian even when he wanted to go. She kept making him feel guilty every time he wanted to leave her.
If that’s who you identified with, maybe you should work on yourself and how you treat others, instead of trying to blame your partner for your unhappiness.
Jacob Hutton Good for you! I will admit that I had been Dani many times...needy, clingy, desperate even. I had horrible judgment when it came to dating. 🤢. If I had been in one of those relationships when this came out, I’m pretty sure I’d have seen a mirror image. Many people don’t understand that it takes *2* people to make things toxic. Yes, of course I had my flaws, but it’s that very thing that those former partners looked for and exploit. Narcissists mainly. Funny thing is when I (finally) got to my happy place, and accepted my super sensitive emotional self, in walked my “home”. My husband and I just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary yesterday. 😃❤️. I wish you well on your journey!!🤍🙏🏼🙌🏼💯
And The Wild Bean Appears and it looks like you identified with Christian. Dani is clingy and depressed with or without Christian. She is not depressed to guilt him into staying. She is depressed because her family is dead. And her “clinging” is just her trying to find support from her boyfriend, which is normal.
The fact that Christian was emotionally unavailable is where things get tricky. He should have just broken up with her. The trick is that she’s just lost her family, so it would make him look bad and he’d feel bad. (That’s where your “guilting” thing comes from) However, Dani didnt choose to lose her family to make her look pathetic and keep Christian. This situation is not her fault (unless you just expect someone who’s entire family died to just be fine.) He has to make a choice to stay with a person he can’t love but wants to keep around or be honest with them and break up but potentially make himself look bad.
Christian rectifies this situation by trying to leave without telling her to go have sex in Sweden. THIS is where we see that Christian is a fucking asshole. Instead of doing the hard thing, breaking up with Dani (which would make him look and feel bad, because it would leave Dani super upset), he does something easy that is just as hurtful (Dani is still super upset, just now he doesn’t have to see it and or deal with the consequences and can have sex). He doesn’t even break up with her when he’s caught.
Like dude, this woman is too emotionally compromised to break up with you right now. You have to break up with her if you don’t want to deal with her. Oh? You’re just gonna leave for Sweden instead of breaking up with her? Shit man, that’s a great idea, and totally not a cowards way out that will deal a ton of confusion and hurt. Wow you’re such a great guy, your girlfriend is the real asshole
I would feel differently if Dani was doing this randomly, or acting like she would suicide without Christian (clear guilting and manipulation), but that simply isn’t the case. Her family is dead (reason), and she tries to seem “cool” for Christian’s emotional unavailability (not guilting).
What I would fault her for is not understanding Christian. She didnt want to see that Christian is checked out of the relationship, she didn’t want to see that he’ll never be honest with her, she didn’t want to see that he won’t even break up with her. This leads to the continuation of this toxic relationship, the “two to tango” aspect. But I would say that Christian’s assholery is more clear and direct bc if he’s not happy he should have just been honest instead of running off to Sweden
@@allyli1718
I didn't identify with none of these idiots. The only one that made sense to me was the UK girl that had the right idea to gtfo as quick as possible.
But unfortunately they killed her and her fiancé.
Nobody else made sense. So you get outta here with that bs
And The Wild Bean Appears You sound like you lack empathy and that makes me feel sorry for you
There is also the fairy tale element of Pelle being a darker verison of Prince Charming. Think about it. HE chose to bring Dani because in his eyes she needed to be part of his community. It is very clear in the directors cut that when Pelle is around his friends (Josh Mark and Christian) he is somewhat annoyed with them. But when he is with Dani he always looking at her, remembering her birthday, kissing her when she becomes may queen, and when he is explaining the traditions he is talking to her.
@Manophere. com sorry dude but if a girl is drugged, she is not cheating on her boyfriend, she is being taken advantage of, and the logic still applies in reverse.
@Manophere. com Because he wasn't drug when he cheated her
Christian agreed to having sex with the other girl before he got drugged. He was looking forward to going on vacation away from Dani from the beginning so he could have sex with other women
Christian was drugged, the sex was non consensual. No matter his motives for holiday, that sex was not consensual. Crappy people can still be assaulted and victim blaming is not ok. Dani didn't know that he had been drugged so obviously she is going to take it badly when she sees her boyfriend like that. He never really had the opportunity to explain himself either.
All that being said, Manophere is either a straight up misogynistic psycho or a massive troll. Get some help dude.
Agustin Camejo
Facts. People seem to forget that when they sympathize with Dani
To me, ”Midsommar“ felt like a whole Horror-Fairytale, similarities are seen to the fairytale of the little mermaid in which she endures great pain in order to find happiness. In the end she willingly kills herself and then finds herself surrounded by the feelings of joy and spirits that comfort her. She, the little mermaid, finds home while being away from home, she is not in touch with reality but gives in to the fate that she is designated for
I do know that of several endings for Hans’s Mermaid, the spirit in heaven ending was one of the more positive ones.
It's not really her finding a home in heaven. It's her feeling guilt for not having a soul due to her being a mermaid.
She wants to be a human so she can have a soul to come to haven.
After enduring enough pain and sacrificing herself, that's when she finally gets to go to heaven
Adrian Ghandtchi Right, I know, but isn‘ t it kind of disappointing that after she tries to find her place in the world ( beside her husband as a princess) she has to finally accept her loss/ her failure to win his heart, and so does Pugh‘s character in the movie. Afterwards she feels welcomed when she arrives in heaven. Dani indeed does experience the same moment of total joy and relief in the surrounding of actual total insanity
MarkFilipAnthony I totally understand your point, but when looking at the little mermaid‘s story from her perspective, she goes from moving to „earth“ away from her family, Dani moves away from her home in the US to fully dedicating her life in a moment of total loss to her boyfriend ( the prince). Still, she didn‘t find home. The only place that opens up to her, waits for her, is the village in which the cult lives ( in this case, the villagers that welcome her after the cerwmonies are the spirits the mermaid sees right after she has entered heaven) As you have said, disappointment has played a huge role, but so did finding a new place and family, Dani felt she could belong to, for the rest of her life.
She loses her individuality!!!!! How is that good for anyone???
"How we react to violence on screen largely depends on how much we empathize with the one committing it" ... wow.
lol
I think Breaking Bad tried this before, tbh. But I still love Midsommar in some special way.
"it's unethical"
OH MY GOD THATS CHIDI
I hadn't noticed the connection between Christian's passivity and his inevitable fate.
Not to mention the fact his name is: "Christian"
Neither had I. It makes so much more sense now.
@Chris Both Christian and Dani are passive the only difference is that Dani is liberated from passivity by being the one to end her relationship with Christian.
I think many young men relate to Christian's bubble of confusion and not knowing what to do with your life, hence why his rape and death causes so much outrage. I believe that in horror those two things are not to be discussed within a moral frame and so people go out of their way to defend him. To me, he's despicable, but one hell of a great character 😆 he's very human and he makes the movie way more complex!
@@marianar2948oh yeah he's an excellently written character. A character that does so little to stand out is so interesting.
Poor Chidi =(. This is a forked up movie
Nice.
He probably had a stomachache when he went to that place.
Create Plan With Elle probably the traditional peeps chili they served.
take my thumbs up
I just remember watching this movie like "why is chidi being such an asshole?" Good job William Jackson Harper
When i first watched the movie in theatres, what i felt at the end wasn't catharsis, but anger. I didn't feel happy for Danny, because she moved from one abusive/emotionally distant relationship to another.
The Harga doesn't love her or care about her, she's just a new member to indoctrinate.
They lied to her about her friends, saying that they don't know where they are but know well that they've been murdered. They conspire for Christian and the redhead girl to have sex right from the beginning. They pretend to be open and in "broad daylight" but they hide a lot from her. They won't even let her leave when she wants to, so they clearly don't care about her well-being and personal needs.
We don't ever meet other May Queens as far as i remember, so she'll probably be used to bear a child (the swedish friend is probs gonna impregnate her) and then they'll kill her off in some other ritual we don't know about. If not she'll commit suicide like the people in the film.
They want their numbers to grow, but they don't want inbreeding, so they have to lure in people who qualify (white, healthy, star signs etc etc).
Danny is just another pawn.
They think they are selfless and caring, but are they genuinely? They stole the lives of countless people (people with family, friends and future plans) to benefit their own warped beliefs.
I love reading up about cults, but they infuriate me so much. Lost, emotional, abandoned people, like Danny, who only seek community and acceptance, are manipulated and conditioned into this hive mind cult. Cults seek out vulnerable people. The Harga planned from the beginning for Danny to become May Queen, because they knew it would make her feel welcome and happy and easier to persuade, along with drugs to dim her better judgement
Ugh, sorry for the rant. I've never went through a break up, so magbe that's why i don't get the catharsis of the ending. I still love the movie though, but i enjoy it more as a study of cult manipulation. Great video!!!
Right?? I was so angry at these cult people. They smile while torturing the ppl. They are so hollow inside it's creepy. As you wrote, they conspired to have Christian sleep with the redhead and made sure Dani watches them so it could snap her. And the scene where they howl and cry with Dani, I felt so humiliated for her. It felt like they were mocking her. They don't actually feel heart broken for her, they literally planned it.
I agree. I’m not saying the break up isn’t an important part of the story- because it is. But as I watched it, I also mostly focused on the fact that this is a CULT movie, and as with any cult, it is incredibly manipulating.
I would say this is a “cult fairy tale” movie. To dani, it does feel like a happy ending. The fact that her boyfriend and his friends were no good to her, makes the fact that they are all dead by the end (and she is happily part of her cult) to feel slightly satisfying-albeit horrific- in an emotional sense.
I was wondering, hoping, someone else had this response. I've been through multiple breakups with some ex's being just like Christian and I did not feel justification, happiness, and definitely not catharsis at the end. I was like, she goes from being stuck in a shitty family situation to stuck in a shitty relationship situation and then stuck in a shitty cult situation. Also now she aided and abetted in multiple murders... cool? i guess? I think the movie relied way too heavily on symbolism and foreshadowing so it just didn't translate well with making the human aspect and reality of the story relatable, if that makes any sense lol.
Thankyou... For saying it...I thought I was the only one that was infuriated at the ending and people calling it a "happy" ending for Dani... Like seriously it's so fucked up and I felt sorry for her
I can completely relate with your thoughts. To me it was a horrifying ending and a complete horror movie because she is always trapped, she is always imprisoned and manipulated, she's never liberated and if she once had the opportunity to be free, with therapy and counceling regarding her family or terrible relationship, now she has zero. She can't leave the cult, she can't make her own life, she doesn't even have anyone to confirm all that happen to her to another person. She was clearly brought there to breed or to be sacrificed. It was a dead end from the beginning. Not satisfying but claustrophobic.
Nobody listened to her when she said she wanted to leave, and they got their wish - she didn't leave, and neither did they.
Nobody would’ve left regardless dumbass. Did you see what happened to the couple that did try to leave??
JustGoPlay got straight murked lol
They would never let her leave, everything was planned by Pelle and the crazy cult
@@venicec3310 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I'm dead 💀😭🤣
I had friends that found it empowering to watch this. I didn't . Dani did not seem empowered, when given an illusion of "choice" with no positive outcomes, by brainwashing captors.
Finally someone with a strong mentality. 2 hours in and a lot of people were okay with mass murder and human sacrifice. It’s crazy.
Yeah, that was my take, too.
The cult won, and nothing good will come from this. Her empowering revenge dream/freedom is an illusion
@@katarinawikholm5873 and then she will go back and get innocent people take them here and they will get killed and when she's old she will kill herself like the old people on the cliff and will just be a tool to bread.
Yeah, it is a great movie in luring both the audience and Dani into believing that what is happening is right, because it feels good.
But seriously people need to take a big step back and look at themselves and why they feel that way.
Why would anyone think murdering tons of people is good? Because the pretty colors? I'm super surprised to read that. I wonder how many people feel empowered by the Jason movies and think it was the right thing. Some scary people out there who get inspired by fictional horror movies 🎬 . And I'm sorry but quite dumb too if they don't see nuance and symbolism here too
I think I take issue with you guys saying that Christian "allowed" himself to be drugged and lead to having sex with another woman. He seemed reluctant from start to finish about it. If he was drugged, that can't be him having sex with the woman, it was straight up rape.
Toxic femininity is forced femininity in women. Whoever says Christian was not raped is the one who wants to defend Dani and the Harga. Obviously, this is a plan of the Harga from the beginning. It is not about "femininity" or feminism as some people are saying. He was raped, like a woman would be too. Many women are raped in manipulative passive relationships as happened to him.
While I do agre that was straight up rape, you're forgetting that Christian started to flirt with the girl very early on and his sexual interesse in her was very purposeful - he even went to have a conversation with her parents to have his permission granted. So there are a lot of nuances in his behaviour and I do think that was made on purpose to make the viewer question the after shock he has after the sex is over.
In horror it's improductive to discuss legimitazion by bynaries, the rape scene means wayyyy more than "he deserved it or not?"
Yeah but it's not like he was drugged with an intoxicant, it was literally stated that it was a potion for virility...not a roofie
@@marianar2948 Agreed, the movie and it's characters are too complicated to box them in white and black. Nothing is supposed to be taken at face value in this movie.
I agree, christian was raped but at the same time I do think it's another way to portray is passiveness because he is confronted with the issue of maja being interested on him from the beggining of the movie by several different persons and he did nothing about it, he knew about the spell she tried to put on him, pelle told him maja was interested in having sex with him, and when the elders confronted him they didn't said "u have to have sex with maja" but "what do u think about maja? We approve of u and maja" so... Did he really didn't have a choice?, I think he had several opportunities through the movie to tell maja off and he never even once did it directly or even tried telling dani what was happening with her and even tho I don't agree with raped and murder being a good punish for being passive I do think the rape was a part of it.
I think it's woth pointing out that the others don't FEEL her emotion, they just reenact it.
I wonder how Ari Aster's ex feels about a movie with a girl having her ex being burned alive while stuffed in a bear suit was inspired by them.
(This is a horror movie that almost feels like a fable, an odd lesson of having to separate yourself from toxic relationships before you find yourself in a worse one)
The ex, calling: "Ari, what the actual fuck?"
This made me feel differently about the film. Like, fuckin-a, Ari.
Wait what I don't get it
maybe she thought "this is why I never tell my erotic fantasies to my BFs, they always make a movie out of it " :D
I'm personally more curious what his dad thought about "The Strange Thing About the Johnsons."
This analysis makes me realised that the end of Midsommar reminds me of the end of The VVitch: at the end, after enduring the paranoia and horror from her family and the world around her, Tomasi writes her name in the book of the beast, finally becoming was everyone was accusing her to be: a witch. With her newfound inner power she fly into the dark between the trees alongside other witches and smile with paint but also with relieved.
Very true! I just rewatched that movie a few days ago. Seriously creepy.
I love these two movies 💜 and your comparision is very spot on!
Power she gained with the sacrifice of her innocent brothers and sisters. That's the thing with power it comes at the cost of others. She was in an awful position and it became a self fulfilling prophecy but still hugely fucking evil to side with the team that killed her family. Love folk horror it's endings are often so complex
Totally
YES. You're thinking "wow that's really fucked up, but at least she's not stressed out anymore" the weirdest sense of catharsis
Pelle is the real antagonist in the story. He lured his "friends" to his cult to be murdered and seemingly will steal one of their girlfriends.
I always assumed he went out and purposely found a group of idiots. Dani was a happy extra (looks like the Harga and is easily manipulated due to being in such a weak place emotionally). I'd say the Harga in general are the antagonists.
Hm only if you interpret his motives to be as selfish as the people he brings there, which doesn't seem to be the case. He loves his family.
But he's a "nice-guy".
@@lettylunasical4766 so he's the guy version of the scariest character in "Get Out"?
@@jaycejohnson6846 so did Ro-Ro.
Gotta say, the “christian allowed himself to be drugged and have sex with another woman” take is very gross. Christian was drugged and manipulated into having sex i.e. he was raped. To frame it as though its his final betrayal just doesnt sit right with me
It’s completely inappropriate of this channel and shouldn’t be tolerated
Not only was he drugged there was a not so subtle implied threat that they would kill him if he didn't do it. I mean they killed all his friends already.
"Christian does this passibly, allowing himself to be drug and led to the act, as if this way he can pretend he isnt really choosing to do it." geez, what a way to describe what is essentialy a rape.
Swede here, and it was such a missed opportunity for the movie to NOT play "Hårgalåten" ("The Hårga song") when they were dancing around the pole to spite the devil as that song is like about that, literally. Search for it, it's beautiful!
Omg yeah same. They made it more authentic then "accurate" which is fine but they really missed some opportunities, like playing the Hårga song. I was kinda waiting for it during the entire movie.
That’s so metal. Lol
If they had, it would have given away Pelle’s role, but I agree, it would have been grand
Ari Aster apparently said he didn’t do that so that people wouldn’t associate the real song with the fictional Hårga cult.
@@n4musica Ok that's very fair and wise. Good thinking, Ari Aster!
I always thought she snapped when smiled at the end 😂
Me too. Just lost her mind.
Until the hallucinogens wear of
She's lost her mind, it's in the script. Florence Pugh was brilliant at that.
I completely I agree with you
Florence Pugh played her that way.
It's a bit shocking to me that you would dismiss a literal rape as an act of passivity from the victim... Wow.
Rape victims are often passive, so it’s not an incorrect assessment.
it is only rape if the woman is drugged.
@@FirstLast-numba1 no rape is if the person is unwilling lmao
@@RED-my9hl what is a joke and where do i get one?
@@FirstLast-numba1 why would u joke about rape 💀 bye
I didn't find the ending "happy" and I wasn't pleased that Christian was killed. I felt unsettled and ambivalent about the ending and didn't see it as "happy" although Dani might actually BE happy. It's sad because although Dani now has the feeling of being loved and belonging and found a new family, she's a different person now, she has been brainwashed and doesn't see her actions objectively, and will not have true free will beyond this turning point.
I’m wondering what she’d be like in a couple of hours after the high has worn off
the ending is compel fucked, christian is drugged up and token advantage of, the bros all die for minor infraction and at the end Dani is hiii as a kite smiling at her boyfriend and his friends being scorched
@@Hakiimthedream I don't think the bros died for their infractions. I think they were marked to begin with and would have been killed no matter what they had done, although in the minds of the hosts, their infractions were by no means minor. Likewise, I think that Dani was always intended for conversion and was never on the chopping block, though her behavior may have made a difference, if she'd acted in a way that suggested she would never be able to integrate.
@@moonlily1 we are of the same opinion, im just referring to how some people attributed their deaths to how shitty they were, i've heard other explain their deaths in ways that make it seem like they almost deserved it, i just think its lazy
@@Hakiimthedream I think that the context is meant to manipulate how you feel about their deaths and unconsciously view the situation from the Harga's perspective. It was Pelle's mission to go and find some people to bring back, and I think he chose people he wasn't attached to or empathetic towards and only pretended to like. I think we're also meant to share the contempt. You look at it like they're just shitty useless people taking up space, no great loss if they're not around, but being lame and douchey isn't enough to deserve a brutal death.
I love how Christian is so easily vilified in Dani’s eyes that we understand why she chose him. But in reality, he didn’t want to have sex with the girl until he was drugged. He clearly wasn’t going to cheat before that. But the cult shows her that he’s the bad guy, so that when they give her the power to get revenge, she finally feels accepted.
“Allowing himself to be drugged and led to the act. That way he can pretend he isn’t really choosing to do it.” That might be the grossest thing I’ve ever heard, and if the one drugged was a woman: this video would require an apology.
Yeah, I winced at that part. Also they totally missed the point: drugging Christian was all about taking advantage of him, and further manipulating Dani- even her seeing him in the act was part of their plan.
It was never a happy ending to me. Just thinking about Dani, she ends up insane, with another manipulative relationship (the harga), I think Pelle was going to marry her right away and after all, she would have no way of running away.
I felt sorry for Christian. Yes, he was not a good boyfriend at all, but he deserved to be broken up with, not to be dead in a bear costume. Dani basically is just moving from one trouble to another, there was no good moment to break up with her peacefully. She’s extremely attached to her bipolar sister, Dani is restless and nervous and always expecting some weird stuff to happen. These are the only subjects she talks to her boyfriend about in the very beginning of the movie. And then her whole family dies and Christian realizes that once again he HAS to be supportive, comforting and attentive. Dani only takes, she (due to her trauma) can’t give anything back. They had to break up. Christian obviously could not handle Dani’s problems and had no resources to help her. Dani didn’t get any help at all from a person she thought she loved though could not let him go just because she needed someone and didn’t want to be alone. They are both wrong and some sort of toxic, but Christian is not a villain in this story.
I absolutely adore this beautiful Nightmare of a movie.
Manophere. com yes, police. This comment right here
Manophere. com do trolls like you have hobbies? Try cycling, pottery, Zumba, woodwork. There’s a whole world out there and we have such little time to explore. Think about how you’re using yours.
Have I seen Midsommar? No
Did I click right away because its The Take? Yes
Watch it!
Me af 😅
I cannot recommend this movie enough! Go watch it. It's incredible.
I didn’t like the movie, but I loved this analysis
Why would you watch analysis and spoilers for a film you've never seen??
all of your comments is scaring me. i get why dani chose to smile in the end to burn all her past and problems but i feel scared some of you smiled at the end with her. how lonely is this generation? that loneliness is vulnerable to any manipulating tactics. but i like this movie too because it made me understand dani but question if all those idiots deserve to die? is dani really safe? is our loneliness a vulnerability that can be easily taken advantage by any cult/religion or any malicious person?
niceeeeee comments and scary reality that we accept the ending for her cause she doesnt have anything else and she settles to just have the worst because thats what she was left with
This movie has proved that many people today would be easily manipulated into joining a cult. That’s 100% true. And it is very sad thinking about it.
I didn’t smile at the end. I didn’t find it satisfying, empowering, or any of that. I found it horrifying and sad. Christian didn’t deserve that. He was kind of a garbage boyfriend and a straight up shitty person. But he deserved to be called out not burned alive in a temple. For me, this wasn’t cathartic. It was the result of incredible manipulation. And portrayed how easy it is to influence someone in a vulnerable state which was also really unsettling.
most people are actually already in a cult, at least in the western world . they’re either right or left wing, with the divide growing further everyday, and the cult blindly obeying their masters via social media. Many people are prime candidates for cults because they’re already stressed, isolated, and constantly being bombarded by people telling them to hate “the other”
Christian was immature and selfish. He should’ve left Dani a long time ago instead of stringing her along and making her feel like a burden for going through poignant, awful trauma. Emotionally unavailable and a coward. He’s also a shitty friend, the way he stole his friend’s thesis just proves he doesn’t care about others.
So he deserves death?
Christopher Brown i never said that
@@christopherbrown2706 It's a movie, dude. A horror movie. This isn't a documentary on how to deal with crappy boyfriends in a logical way. It's about a brainwashing, murderous cult. But the genius of the storytelling is that we can "cheer" for the horrible people. Dani is the main character and we are made to feel her isolation and instability. That's good storytelling, not a judge deciding which character deserves death. You ever see The Devils Rejects? The death scene at the end is portrayed as sad....even though the people being shot have literally tortured and murdered hundreds of people in the most god-awful ways. Their last charge at the police is played to triumphantly sad music.
@@jennaleclaire2654 so what should I think about the MANY women who applaud Christian's murder?
He was. People try using that to justify him getting drugged, raped and straight up burned alive in favour of empowering Dani at the end though, and that’s truly the most frightening thing.
I was on and off with my ex-boyfriend for a year but the day I saw this film I ended things for good. I saw so much of my ex in Christian and realised that what I was feeling when I was with him was not okay. Midsommar shows so well that being with a partner who is fake-nice and distant does a lot of damage to your self-esteem and makes you consistently doubt your emotional needs. Please don't be with a person who makes you feel that way. It's worth it to hold out for someone who will see the May Queen in you.
Sounds like you are an unstable incel. I don’t know what you did, but it can’t be entirely your family’s fault. Seems like you’re shifting blame and resorting to wanting to violent harm your family because you can’t deal with your emotions. Please, for the physical and emotional safety of your wife and children, do not go near them
"being with a partner who is fake-nice and distant does a lot of damage to your self-esteem and makes you consistently doubt your emotional needs"
I RELATE SO MUCH! I would always give up on my needs because I felt selfish for not doing what "such a great person!" expected of me. It finally hit me that he was the one in the wrong when he tried to alienate me from my (and his!) friends and family
you are now our may queen!
ProxyMoron I realized there’s odd ways to portray women as victims with no power while convincing people they hold the power... she couldn’t leave him due to her sadness... it was her boyfriend’s fault she stayed in a shit relationship.
@Manophere. com FYI
Your kids never wished to be born
They were here on earth because you were horny one night
Asking them to be dead is just you being chicken and wanting to run away from the responsibility that you dug yourself
This may be an unpopular opinion but to be honest when I watched the movie I got the impression that Christian was just emotionally drained from being with Dani for presumably a long time and that they were both just awful for each other, and both making it worse by not breaking it off. I never specifically sided with Dani and so the deaths never felt cathartic or justified to me. I also never felt like Dani even got a new home because it just felt like she was being manipulated into joining a cult.
True, but there were a lot of important deleted scenes that showed their fights, how selfish and gaslighting Christian really was
People are so quick to call someone "toxic" or "abusive". In reality, being with someone who constantly talkes about themselve and later on, sufferes from trauma is VERY draining. Considering what Dani went through, breaking up with her in a month or two would have been near to impossible. Christian wasn't perfect but he didn't deserve any of the shit that happened to him
@@Zahra-wd6gb ah well, I haven't seen those. These are just my thoughts regarding the finished film. Maybe if those had been left in then I would be able to empathize with Dani a bit better
Is it weird that everytime someone says Christian I think 50 shades
@@crowe3627 They were together for 4 years, with him getting antsy and wanting to leave for at least a whole year. He complained about her constantly to his friends, giving that one GoT douche free rein to tease her and make her feel even more insecure. Christian could've made a clean break if he were honest about not being up to giving her the kind of love and support she was looking for in a partner, but instead he put on a pretense that denied BOTH of their needs.
I didn't (personally) see the ending as happy in any shape or form. It's literally her breaking point. She has officially become part of a cult that has manipulated her and used her emotions to their advantage. It's just quite tragic, in my opinion.
So we're just gonna ignore that the cult also murdered the couple from London and lied about their fate? No explanation for what their sin supposedly was?
exactly, a lot of people were killed who didn't commit any sin.
+Gamer Dru
Also are we going to ignore the fact that the cult is directly responsible for her sister's murder suicide of their parents?
@@GalaxiaStars why how? They did a lot of things but what in the movie makes you think that? It happened in the US and the only cult member there we know of is Pelle, who doesn't even know her family.
I believe the Harga saw their "disrespect" of their culture and beliefs as their sin.
@@jonweman6128 I too had the feeling that the Harga, and likely Pele, had a hand in her family’s deaths, though it’s not confirmed in the movie. The fact that they look like they died peacefully unlike Terri (the sister) resembles the respect and care the Harga showed their elders, so their peaceful deaths could have been a result of murder by a Harga. Also, everything just works out so conveniently to get Dani into the community, coupled with Peles early interest in her
“Drugs, sex, and death, oh my”
😂
That sounds like a vibe
As a Swede, I can confirm this is how our Midsommar parties happen. 10/10 accurate portrayal.
Never going to sweeden then
I felt saddest about the bear. Poor bear.
I was so caught up being traumatized with the rest of the movie I didn't even think of the poor bear. He probably had a name!
@heni tink I also laughed at the "it's just a bear" line but when I rewatched (is this a real word?) it I was like "oh the bear"
When t y showed the bear burning in that picture I knew something really horrible would happen.. I just didn’t know how horrible
yes christian was a terrible boyfriend, but he was r@p3d in that scene and i feel like a lot of ppl ignore/ forget that. they forced him to take drugs, and had been doing so for a while. he did not choose to do that
I dunno - I didn't think it was happy. Maybe I've had too much experience with cults, but I don't think she has a good ending - regardless of morality. Her sanity was completely obliterated, and she's not really a person any more - just new breeding stock for the Harga. She's physically alive, but there's really nothing left inside. She meets just as gruesome an end as everyone else, it's just a little more complicated.
That's the point.
Revenge Fantasies was something I talked about with my therapist. I told them of the terrible things I wanted to do to the people who have hurt me. How much I wanted to hurt those people just so they feel an ounce of pain they caused. But no matter how much I want that, I doubt it give me peace. I doubt it make me feel better because I know its wrong and I would just feel worse, like I really was the terrible person all along regardless of their acts against me.
@Manophere. com I gotta be real. Half of this confused me because of some of the grammatical and spelling mistakes so I was staring trying to figure out what the story was in this comment.
What about the two londoners innocently murdered without real reason other than wanting to go home?
There was a reason. It becomes clear throughout the film that all the outsiders were brought there for breeding and/or sacrificial purposes only. Either they cooperate with, respect, and join the cult or they're killed/sacrificed. After witnessing the suicide ritual of the elderly members, the Londoners reacted strongly and "offensively" and were actively trying to escape, which showed to the cult they couldn't be easily manipulated into joining the cult, despite being drugged up like the other outsiders. Therefore, due to their lack of cooperation and their likelihood of exposing the cult to other people on the outside if they left, the cult saw it necessary to murder them. This outcome also benefited the cult because they needed a certain number of people to sacrifice for the final ritual of the film. Perhaps it could even be argued that most of the outsiders were intended to be used as sacrifices, no matter whether they cooperated with the cult or not. So, it could be simply a matter of WHEN they would be killed, not a matter of IF. So, in that instance, the Londoners were killed sooner rather than later because they proved to be difficult to control while they remained alive.
You keep saying these deaths “feel justified” but I don’t really get it. Sure some of them may be unlikeable but like, we don’t even treat child murders this harshly. Like in the grand scheme of things these people aren’t even that bad, there like minor jerks
We should treat child murderers this harshly.
I have seen this comment a lot and I just picked yours to comment on but it is like general statement pertaining to the "but they didn't deserve to die" thought: it's fiction.
In real life would these deaths be justified? Absolutely not. But in fiction, you are telling a story. In order to tell this story, those characters must die. When you look at a death in fiction, yes those characters have died, but WHY have they died? What does their death mean? In real life, death rarely means anything, but in a story where everything is constructed, there is a meaning. These deaths feel justified from a narrative perspective. Not like telling you to literally stuff someone in a bear suit and set them on fire because they were a shit boyfriend.
Dani is our main character, so everyone and everything needs to be justified through the lens of Dani. The deaths feel justified because these characters wronged Dani in one way or another. Dani's needs are reflected by the village. Analogy and metaphor. It's a movie. Not a documentary. You don't need to cry justice for these fake people because "murder is wrong" like dig a little deeper into the narrative structure.
tl;dr Murder is bad. Good thing this is a movie.
@@traveljournal9928 The Harga wrong Dani throughout the movie yet they don't die so...
Travel Journal Travel Journal Travel Journal no I get that, but when some people talk about this movie they straight up act like this is deserved. People seem to only have empathy for Dani but to me all these people seem like victims. Christian was practically raped. And Connie and Simon are pretty much killed just for being there. Like I understand big picture wise what this movie is about but some people almost seem to get a sick amount of enjoyment from some of these things. I get that you people relate vicariously through a revenge fantasy like this but still. If there was a movie about a guy who was cheated on or treated mildly poorly by a group of women and the all met violent ends I would have a hard time relating
@@traveljournal9928 yeah to a certain degree like in fiction we can appreciate a killer dying even if we don't support the death penalty in real life. But we can't, or rather shouldn't let fiction make us feel like someone deserves to die because he was a bad boyfriend...
The real horror seems to be about the hopelessness of the two extremes - extreme isolation and extreme community. There is no middle ground to escape to and everything is awful.
This movie is iconic and will be remembered as one of the best horror movies of all time
I will now count to 3 and then I am still the unprettiest CZcamsr of all time. 1...2...3. Btw I have two very hot girlfriends. Thank you for your attention, dear tinio
So true 😎 I think it's going to surpass the horror niche and become a general reference like The Shining!
I really really want to watch it, but I am really really scared of horror movies
I preferred Hereditary, but this is a good horror.
This movie was literally horrible
I felt horrified at the end. It’s not just because of the violence- it’s because it felt like Dani truly lost her mind at the end. The fact that she found community and family in a violent death cult is a terrifying prospect for me. To think that a reasonable person could be sucked into that madness scares the shit out of me. Even worse is knowing that other people found the ending so cathartic. That is madness.
I don’t think he “chooses” to be drug...
Interpretation is such a fascinating thing because I didn't see her smiling as catharsis. To me her smile represents an awkward acceptance that she just got everything she wanted but knows it's more than she can handle.
The Take: *uploads this video about one of my favorite movies ever*
Me going through an awful break-up: "ooooh yes"
I might be in the minority here but I did not feel satisfaction while watching this. They didn't deserve death particularly the 2 British people, they did nothing. Dani just came off as murderous and crazy to me at the end and I felt bad for Christian not her.
Too true.
If you’re in the minority.. I’m scared
I would comment on Dani's last choice with this: "Just because you understand or empathize with someone, that doesnt mean what they did was right or good."
I love the line about how we perceive violence based on empathy with the one who commits it... In current culture people love to see "cool tough" people commit violence, like that psychopath James Bond, yet I'm the opposite, I dislike that and prefer seeing real feeling, not calculated murders.
Yeah James Bond is such a really annoying, overrated dude who gets praised to the high heavens
James Bond is a glorified soldier/assassin. He kills because that's part of his job.
ok so its time to add something to "avoid if possible" list
- people who find dani last smile in midsommar as empowering/happy/positive etc etc
My take on the film is that cults will suck you in when you're at your most vulnerable (grief, divorce, depression, etc)
That smile was a liberation. She was able to let go of everything she’s known and through a sacrifice, she was reborn. She could start over and live a happy life.
Edit: I love that this turned into such a debate about feminism. Anyone else notice how it’s never a feminist that brings up feminism on YT comments? Damn I can’t even have an opinion without getting labeled. They should start a group against that kind of thing happening to wo- oh, wait.
Thats the most retarded thing I've heard today. I just knew it was said by a woman.
A cult brainwashes a broken chick and these retarded fangirls are like 'sHeS rEbOrN".
@@ChadEricCartman it's horrifying that there are people that actually romanticize this character's journey and see it as something positive. Yeah I don't put it past misandrists to being okay with a man being burned alive because his gf felt like it in a bout of rage fueled by depression and drugs. If we reversed the roles and Dani was a guy who ultimately got his gf murdered, this movie would've been despised by feminist groups, no excuses.
It is definitely NOT that. Dani has exchanged her horrible relationship for the same, only ten times worse.
Flying right past the misogynistic replies, I get that thematically there's a part of the ending that's very 'yes she's finally breaking free of her inconsiderate boyfriend' but I'm with Gregory in that it comes at the expense of Dani's literal sanity and what little independence she had. Now she's been fully mindfucked by a murderous cult who manipulated her trauma until her psyche broke--it's every problem she had before but, like Gregory said, ten times worse. It's not a happy ending in the slightest. I'd even argue that her deranged smile at the end was the most terrifying part of the movie.
@@DrGregoryHouseIT absolutely, and now she's become a trophy for Pelle to show off. There is no liberation there. Whoever thinks that got it all wrong. Yet it's typical of fragile femininity to dismiss views as misogynistic when they don't with their twisted notion about men always being the ones to blame in any relationship. So it's okay that Christian gets punished for not supporting a clingy and codependent partner battling depression. But if he were going through that instead, they would not say that Dani is inconsiderate or selfish for not wanting to be with him. Can you imagine if Christian was the one that ends up getting her killed and smiling at the end? Would they call it liberation? Double standard, all the time.
I get all this “revenge fantasy” thing is really appealing for women in this movie, because Dani represents a misunderstood girlfriend who isn’t loved back. However I personally felt weird with it because as a woman I felt more identified with Christian, the “crappy boyfriend”, who could also be a crappy girlfriend (like me). However it made sense to me that Christian died horribly at the end, not because I thought he deserved it for being a bad boyfriend, but because he was always afraid to make decisions and just followed others to avoid responsibility and pain. He never had the courage to break up with Dani and a person with no will was perfect for sacrifice. Being the one who ends up a relationship doesn’t make you a villain, but forcing a relationship that’s already dead does. The whole movie to me is about accepting death/ends/closure as part of life. So my moral from this story (from Christian’s side) is: you better get the courage to decide for yourself and end things by yourself, or others will.
Amen to that! The universe works in messed up ways. Such a great allegory for why you cannot be passive in your life, decisions give life meaning.
LaNée for sure!! decisions shape our lives and shape us 😊
You managed to understand the movie better than 95% of the people in this comment section 😆
0:27 “The grizzly finale”
Haha nice
@Manophere. com really your spamming all these comments. No one believes your dumb story. Go take a nap
I saw this movie as more of a cautionary tale, and an unfair cautionary tale at that. It was actually really triggering for me. I identified a lot with Dani and her emotional pain. I've always felt the need to suppress everything and dismiss my own feelings the same way she does in an effort to make herself less of a burden on her friends. But what really sucked was that when I went to go watch this movie, I was with people that have acted a lot like Christian and his friends in the past. I actually got a panic attack during the murder suicide scene because that comment about attention-seeking sounded eerily similar to things the people sitting right next to me had said about me.
Then Dani keeps feeling the pressure to suppress her emotions and accommodate to the people around her. But no one accommodates back except the cult. It felt so manipulative. Like that scene where the women cry with Dani was immensely cathartic and I felt immensely jealous of the support they were showing her. But I wasn't happy about it. I saw all the ways that Christian and his friends were assholes, but I was still horrified to see the cult harm them. Christian was straight up raped, and I feel like that isn't taken with as much nuance as it should. When everyone eventually got picked off and they set the hut on fire, I didn't feel catharsis. I was confused as to what Dani was thinking. And when she smiled, I was disillusioned.
I'm sorry for my gendered reading on the movie. But it feels like there's often no in-between for women. And maybe it's just a universal truth that I haven't accepted yet. But I feel like as a woman, I'm only ever doing all of the emotion work or none of it at all. I'm either an unappreciated mother teresa or I'm widely regarded as a bitch. And the sad part is, I want to be truthfully in between. I want a support system that allows me to breathe without making me push for the space I need to exist. And I just feel like every relationship, whether it be a friendship, romantic, or familial, I always find myself getting hurt by more toxicity. And the worst part is it's usually not my fault. Usually people are just unabashedly assholes. Sometimes they're happy to admit it but they're always unwilling to change. And I just can't reasonably function on my own. I'm human, I need at least some people around. I can't realistically just isolate myself from all of my relationships and expect it to go well.
So when I watch Midsomar, and I see Dani smiling at her boyfriend's murder, everything just feels wrong. It's like I'm being told that my anger and my emotional turmoil WILL eventually get the best of me, but that there isn't really a healthier alternative. The people that fulfilled Dani were part of a murder cult. The people that finally freed Dany from the crushing weight of her emotions also stole her individuality. They gave her an outlet by indulging her in her rage, by hurting the people that hurt her all while calling it love.
And I guess I'm supposed to cut people like that out of my life before it's too late. But what if they're everywhere? I just feel like finding people that actually support me is such an unrealistic task when I look at the way most people are. And my trauma and suffering isn't my fault. Having feelings isn't my fault. Now, having suppressed my feelings, having had patience with some really difficult people, having prioritized kindness when I was the angriest I've ever been, I have to exhaust and hurt myself even more for an indefinite amount of time to try and find people that will finally give me a break. In ending those relationships, I'd have to isolate myself completely in an effort to find better people. AND I have to be wary of anyone looking to take advantage of me like the cult takes advantage of Dani. It's just so unfair. And yeah, I get it. That's the world. Life is unfair. Being a woman is just a harder difficulty setting. But what a miserable truth. If that's what I have to do, I don't know if I have the strength to do it.
I just realized that last line is basically accidentally the star wars quote. And to anyone who actually made it to the end of that comment, I don't know whether to say I'm sorry or you're welcome.
It having been two years since your comment, I really do hope you have worthy people close to you now.💗 I'm sorry for what you have suffered. It may seem like genuinely good people are rare, and maybe they are, but they exist. That means you can have healthy, positive, emotionally fulfilling relationships. No one should settle for less.✌
i LOVE that you guys mentioned "dogville." it’s actually the most satisfying movie ending for me. with all the horrible and disgusting things (at first subtle, and then just totally off the radar) people did throughout the film, the ending felt savagely righteous.
I can tell you all about what it's like when you finally lose your mind. Suddenly, the regular sense of emotion you feel about what's right and wrong just kind of goes away and you lose yourself
"I remember when- I remember, I remember when I lost my mind/ There was something pleasant about that place"
I watched this film near the beginning of the coronavirus quarantine period (in March) when I was also on the brink of breaking up with my boyfriend. I live far away from all of my closest friends and family, and one of the only people nearby was my boyfriend who was not emotionally available at the time. I felt Dani's isolation and emotional distress on a visceral level. The scene where the women surround Dani and wail with her was one of the most cathartic parts of the whole movie because, like Dani, I just wanted someone else to empathize with me and express my feelings in a group.
well, I came in here with curiosity about whether or not you ended up breaking up with your boyfriend. But now this other guy's comment is really concerning to me. This movie is a horror and the fairy tale. Not a guide. Nobody needs to burn for your personal suffering.
@@fatladysings77 It's a long story. Basically we broke off our fast-paced, intense, serious, committed relationship and started seeing each other on a more casual basis instead. We still want to be together, but we need to give each other room to grow and become more emotionally healthy.
Omg, I lived exactly the same situation and fully understand you !
The women cause her pain and only pretend to empathize. Why do people keep missing that?
@@DrGregoryHouseIT Exactly. Wailing with her does not mean they are actually sad. They feel bad for her, but crying on-cue like that = acting = fake.
That's funny how accurate this actually revealed personal traumas. I mean, for me the ending was extremely disturbing not because of the burning alive dudes, but because of situation where grief and emotions of Dani were taken away (aka shared) by her "new family". So instead of growing up and being her own person (after obviously co-dependent relations with her sister and parents and way too much relying on her boyfriend lacking of support), she immersed herself into this sick society, deepen herself into the most extreme form of co-dependence. Honestly I was so disturbed with the idea of my personality, my feelings being withdrawn and diminished. For me this movie is not about breakup (I mean dudes come and go), but mostly about dealing with unbearable grief. Obviously that "new family" is just a cheesy replacement for the original one, and Dani lost her chance to become her own family. (As for me I came from extremely religious family with hyperprotecting mother, and only in my late twenties I managed to distant from them emotionally, I overcame depression and finally felt as free complete individual, so I was really triggered and felt really sorry for Dani). She needed real help, obviously, not fake "support" from new family, not this dissolution). Sorry for redundancy, this movie stills awakes a lot of emotions
I’m so sad that this movie was snubbed at the Oscars because it at least deserved some nominations😔
Could Christian’s name be a symbol? Dani leaves Christian ( i.e Christianity) to join a pagan society
Manophere. com my comment doesn’t really have anything to do with that. Plus, i haven’t watched the movie. I’m going off the take’s representation
I agree it probably is. Christian being monotheistic and her moving to a more "open-minded" polytheistic society, taking her control back.
Yooo, that's true!
Never crossed my mind 🤯
I believe it to be at least partially true. And it's something I've done.
this movie made me feel nauseous, i loved it
JCV love the subtle visuals
Several people ran from the theater I was at. This movie is really too much for some viewers. Anyone who decides to try watching should take great care when doing so
Right! I felt like I was holding my breath the whole time. Waiting for something crazy to happen...not disappointed lol
absolutely love this comment as a movie review
Florence did an absolutely *amazing* job portraying Dani. I love that her voice is rather deep
the movie is SUPPOSED to make you feel confused, both feeling for dani and against her decision. it's a horror movie, you are supposed to be uncomfortable, aster just creates this in an unusual way by not focusing on the typical horror aspects and instead making you conflict with yourself. absolutely brilliant.
Great movie but I cant help but wonder what happened to Dani afterwords. I don't think we saw any of the previous May Queens which makes me think she had a grissly end.
Right? It was a happy moment not a happy ending.
I'm not 100% sure I'm recalling rightly, but wasn't one of the women Dani befriended a previous May Queen? The one to whom she said "you're so beautiful"? Weren't the ones who went with her to bless the crops former May Queens? They did, however, specifically say that they sacrifice 9 people every 90 years. The 9 was already accounted for, 4 Harga and 5 outsiders, so no, there is no reason to believe they sacrifice Dani. They also stated that they have to bring in outsiders every so often for the purpose of genetic diversity and there's no guarantee that Maja's single encounter with Christian will result in pregnancy and we know Pelle wants her, so, I think the goal for Dani was indoctrination and integration. I have always assumed that Dani stays with the Harga and joins the community.
@@moonlily1 Which ritual do they do every 90 years? It can't be the 75 year olds committing suicide, or the May Queens (they happen every year, right?). I didn't get the 90-years part.
During the movie there is a drawing of a woman sitting serene in flames. I guess that will be Dani at the end of the Midsommar festivities.
Should’ve just hang out with her girl friend (that she talked to at the beginning) and ditch Christian.
I love how passionate the narrator's voice keeps getting all through the video. Like she's so immersed in the analysis she can contain her feelings ❤️
I think that it's really interesting how Pelle managed to get "new blood" to the community. Christian most definitely had a baby with Maja, and then there's Dani, who is in the summer of her life and she is capable of bearing children.
I'm so excited about this! I absolutely loved Midsommar, can't wait to hear your take on it
edit: this was so good. Took all the ideas I already had about the movie and then explored them further to really expand my understanding of the characters. Also, I now understand why remembering the movie makes me happy (in a very twisted way)
Sameeeee
Your TAKE on it 😂😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
Me neither, it's certainly ripe for a Take analysis video! 💖📹
It's seriously bizzare and sad how people can be so okay and happy with the ending.... It's so dangerous how these people on social media can so easily say that it's alright for the boyfriend and his friends to get brutally murdered just because they are slightly bad people and side with a cult that has fucked up rituals and ideologies and murders people brutally
I don't think the other friends deserved it but Christian definitely did. I wouldn't side with the cult either. I loved the ending but would still escape the cult after all was said and done
He was a jerk but he wasn't jerky enough to want him dead. The movie ended with her still being weak and needy. She took no responsibility for the pain she caused herself.
The real horror story was Danny's previous life: her blood family, the boyfriend, his friends.
And her new one, which is even worse than the old one.
I think that's the real one many of the viewers relate to, unfortunately.
I really don't know how others don't see that. Leaving death, suicide and apathy behind for meaning, family and support using the vehicle of a horror story is honestly so amazing. It literally begins with suicide and death.
@@sunphoenix1231 That's because she actually doesn't leave them at all. In fact, she's got more of it than ever before. Dani isn't smiling out of relief at the end, she's mindwiped.
Did you miss the part where she got assimilated by a Cult?
And the movie ends with death, Christian and Dani's.
@@DrGregoryHouseIT Ari Aster says it isn't a cult so I'm going to side with the person that made the movie. That aside our interpretations of other cultures and horror elements are more accentuations and perpetuations the themes of the movie. Kind of like the Babadook being about the subject of grief. The shining is about addiction and trauma. Horror is filled with lots of these ideas.
The symbology of leaving one life behind for another life that embraces who you are is the main theme. The things that generally happen in horror movies are unrealistic and are more pervasive to get the ideas across. To escape one horror and find peace is the realistic representation.
I’ve been debating on rewatching this. Seems I’ve got my answer!
I just wanted to give Dani a hug pretty much the entire film.
I love Midsommar. I connect so intensely with the main character. From going through a traumatic experience, to having toxic relationship, to experiencing horrible trips on psychedelics. This movie spoke to my emotions like no other
This movie is intensely layered with stunning cinematic vision. Hard word, research, unbending dedication, and passion went into every aspect of the film, and it shows.
I feel like this video should've covered how Dani's ending could be rather dangerous for her. Living in that commune is not a really positive experience in the long run. Perhaps, Dani's parents' murder was orchestrated by them. Honestly, I feel like Pelle had a lot to do with this more than people give him credit for.
He definitely does.
no
This movie was so difficult for me as a trauma survivor, and having lost close family to suicide. I’ve also been in relationships with people like Christian, so everything in the movie felt so personal. I completely took on Dani and her feelings of grief, horror, the frustration and confusion you feel in abusive relationships. And that moment of betrayal. I appreciate the film immensely, but I don’t think I could ever watch it again.
That moment of betrayal was actually rape in this movie. And it was part of a plan by the cult to assimilate Dani,.
@@DrGregoryHouseIT you need that jester's hat
@@aistej4943 Why? The cult set everything up with Dani's mental unraveling.
Someone mentioned that there is a flower crown in the parent's house when we see that they've died. Suggesting that Pelle killed them so that Dani will ultimately join the cult.
It's a cute theory, but I don't think it tracks. It was Christian who actually invited her, not Pelle. Pelle just took the opportunity to encourage her.
The flower wreath was likely just there as symbolism. After all, it's perfectly normal in modern Western culture to send flower wreaths to funerals.
@@Cyssane It's actually been confirmed that the cult drove Dani's sister to the point of doing a murder suicide. And that it was most likely Pelle who had involvement in killing them.
I wouldn't call it a breakup movie. It's a horror movie about when you need to break up with someone, but instead of doing just that, you fall into the hands of a cult, which may even turn out to be the far worse fate of all!